Amtrak's Cascades Line emerging model of success

Posted: Sunday, December 01, 2002

Don PhillipsThe Washington Post

SEATTLE - In the busy north-south corridor west of the Cascade Mountains, Amtrak is having what it considers to be a reliability problem: six breakdowns among trains that run between Eugene, Ore., and Vancouver, B.C.

To put it in perspective, however, that's six breakdowns in a year - a 99.85 percent mechanical reliability rate. Amtrak has had that many breakdowns during some weeks with its troubled Acela trains in the Northeast. But even six in a year is not good enough, considering the breakdown rate had been about two a year.

"We're catching a lot of flak in Spain," said Jean-Pierre Ruiz, North America chief executive for the Spanish train manufacturer Talgo SA, which makes the equipment used on Amtrak's Cascades service. "Six is a lot for us."

The Cascades service is an example of what can happen when simplicity meets a transportation need. Increasingly, it has become an argument for the theory that Amtrak should buy off-the-shelf high-speed technology from Europe rather than build trains from scratch such as the Acela, that had to be pulled from service for several days this summer.

In many ways, the Cascades service is a working model of what the Bush administration is pushing for as the Amtrak of the future - a reliable, high-volume regional service that, despite what state officials complain is a lack of federal funding commitment, does well with the help of significant state support.

Ridership has increased 460 percent since the train began operating in 1993, and it grew 5.7 percent in 2001. Customer satisfaction surveys indicate 84 percent of passengers would ride again, and 98 percent said they would recommend the service to friends.

The low-slung tilt train has gathered a following that makes it difficult to get reservations some weekends. Already, 20 percent of business travelers between Portland, Ore., and Seattle use the train, though there are only three round trips a day.

The Cascades' popularity stems from many factors, including that it runs in a highly congested area with a dense population base. Beyond that, it serves local foods, operates generally on time and emphasizes onboard service.

Amtrak onboard crews "feel real pride in ownership of a good product, and it shows," said Kenneth M. Uznanski Jr., manager of the Rail Office of the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The Cascades service is operated by Amtrak, but Washington state owns two of the five train sets used, and Oregon owns one. Talgo maintains the trains under contract. Washington also pays a portion of operating costs.

Since 1993, Washington and Oregon have contributed $140 million in capital funds, including funds for buying the trains, new track work and new stations, while Amtrak has contributed $90 million. In fiscal 2002, Washington state contributed $16.5 million in operating costs, $16.1 million came from ticket sales, and $12.8 million came from Amtrak.

The Cascades service is a prime example of an incremental approach to high-speed rail. Instead of building a new 200-mph rail line and commissioning costly, futuristic equipment, the Cascades operate over the tracks of the freight railroad Burlington Northern SantaFe at a top speed of 79 mph - the maximum allowed by the federal government on lines without an automatic train stop system. The state wants to gradually establish 2 -hour Seattle-Portland service by building a 110-mph track parallel to the BNSF freight line. Studies by the state and Talgo say it would cost about $2.1 billion, a fraction of estimates for new high-speed rail construction that doesn't use freight railroad rights of way.

"Too many people are stuck on the dream that we need to go straight from the 19th century to the 25th century," Ruiz said. Amtrak President David Gunn, a believer in the incremental approach to high-speed rail, holds up the Seattle-Portland market as a good possibility of a route on which Amtrak could "dominate the market."